Where In The World Is The Fifth Hokage?
by MrWriterWriter
Summary: Missing Hokage' response. So, the council thinks they can just banish Naruto and all will be well? Not if Tsunade has anything to say about it!
1. Chapter 1

**Can't I just lie through my teeth and say I do own Naruto? No? Damn!**

**This is my submission to Perfect Lionheart's 'Missing Hokage' challenge. Hope you enjoy.**

**Where In The World Is The Fifth Hokage?**

Prologue:

Reversal of Fortune.

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The water around them slowly turned red as the blood flowed freely from the hole Sasuke had just driven into Naruo's chest, his Sharingan eyes glinting in victory as the blonde started to go limp, his head drooping down.

"Be honored, dobe. Your death will give me what I need to kill Itachi." He said smugly as he began to extract his hand from the wound, savoring the thought that it would only be a matter of minutes before he'd have his clan's ultimate bloodline.

Or he would have, had the feeling of triumph not been replaced with agony in his left arm as Nartuo's own left shot up to grab the retreating appendage. A split second later, his right came up and impacted with the elbow, sending it into an angle it was not meant to go with a sickening crack. The Uchiha barely had time to cry out before Naruto's left came back, this time catching him between the eyes and sending Konoha's 'prince' tumbling backwards.

As he regained his footing, most of his attention on the now blood-soaked sleeve, he looked to see his opponent wobbling on his feet, orange jumpsuit slowly turning red as well. As he watched, Naruto steadied himself and cough up blood., faint wisps of chakra trailing off him of he stood.

"I'm..through...playing....you son of a bitch!"

It wasn't the sentence itself that cause Sasuke to suddenly feel unnerved....it was what he saw as his teammate lifted his head.

Without another word, Naruto vanished and the world of Konoha's last Uchiha was blanketed in pain.

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"Kami...what's taking so long!?" Tsunade paced frantically around the main gates of Konoha, not caring that she was getting soaked from the rain. The rest of the retrieval team had been brought back at least three hours ago, along with Rock Lee and the Suna siblings. Chouji and Neji had received the worst damage; severe chakra drain ad multiple stab injuries respectively, but thankfully they would recover. Kiba had a knife wound in his side and Akamaru suffered a few torn muscles, both of which were fortunately minor. Shikamaru simply had a sprained finger and Lee was nursing a lump after the sannin smacked him in the head for leaving without her approval.

One person was still missing, however....

_"Naruto..don't you DARE be dead..." _She thought, keeping an eye on the entrance as she paced.

"Hokage-Sama! There's someone coming!" One of the guards called out, pointing down the road, "There looks to be about four...no, five!" After a moment, the guard yelled again, "It's Uzumaki and some of his clon..." The man barely had time to finish the last word before the woman took off in a dead sprint towards the approaching group.

"Naruto!" She called out, stopping dead in her tracks at the scene in front of her when she reached them. Two clones were helping the real blonde stand, the gaping hole through his chest making her breath hitch in her chest, though the bleeding had stopped, by his tenant she surmised, he still needed urgent medical attention. Another clone was dragging an unconscious Sasuke by his hair. The boy's left arm was still broken and it didn't take much to tell the right had been dislocated. The boys face showed he had beaten to within an inch of his life; a crushed nose, broken jaw and a right eye that had swollen shut were the more visable examples.

"Hey, Obaa-chan..You can tell Haruno we brought back her precious 'Sasuke-kun'." Naruto said weakly, before the clones dispersed and conciousness left him as well, _"Sorry, Ojiji..I held out as long as I could.."_

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Yes, I'm kinda using my oneshot 'the me behind the mask' as sort of a foundation. It might go good, then again it might not. We'll see what people think.


	2. Chapter 3

(Note: Lovers of Team 7 should consider looking away from the following story.)

Sometimes it's good to ask your fellow writers.

Chapter 1:

A Future Fractured And The Face Behind The Fiction

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"Damn...feel like I went a few rounds with Lee and Gai-Sensei at the same time." Naruto groaned, finally coming to. The first thing that greeted him was the familiar, and unwelcome, white tiled ceiling and smell of disinfectant and medicine of the hospital. His muscles hollered in protest as he had practically force himself to sit up. "How long was I out?"

"You've been out for most of the day, gaki." A somewhat familiar voice piped up nearby. The blonde looked over to see Anko Mitarashi sitting in a chair beside the bed, "You'll be glad to know the rest of the retrieval team made it back, and their all recovering..plus the Uchiha is now under twenty-four hour guard. Though, considering he won't be leaving that bed for quite some time." She chuckled, "I gotta hand it to you, squirt, from what I heard you have him quite the beatdown."

"Yeah, well, having an A-rank assassination jutsu go through your chest does tend to piss one off." He looked at her with a hint of caution, the memory of her licking the cut on his cheek still somewhat fresh. "So, mind if I ask why you're here? No offense, but we've never even met before the Chunin Exams. Though I''ll admit you're not acting quite as...sadistic...as you were then."

The calm demeanor the boy was exibiting caught the snake jounin off-guard for a moment, _"This can't be the same hyperactive twerp from the exams...can it?" _She decided to file that awy for now before answering him, "As to why I'm here, I volunteered to keep an eye on you till you woke up."

"Wait, you've been here all day? On your own free will? Why?"

The grin on Anko's face faded a bit, "Believe it not, you and I have a fair bit in common. A while back, when Orochi-teme was still in Konoha, he took on an apprentice, an orphan who'd lost her parents. He trained her, taught her, looked after her somewhat...after a while she started seeing him as a hero, one of the strongest shinobi in Konoha. Unfortunately, it turned into blind devotion, even to the point where she assisted him in experiments that even Interrogation and Torture won't speak about. However, after all that, she learned the hard way he was just using her; as soon as he developed the Curse Seal, she became his first test subject. She was in agony for days, pain was just about all she could feel, but..whether it was a humongous stroke of luck or an act of Kami, she survived...and he abandoned her after deciding his 'test run' was successful. For a long time she was the target of people who decided she was just like him and tried to punish her for what happened. Her only saving grace was that she had actually learned to defend herself before then. Otherwise..." She went quiet for a moment.

"The orphan's you, isn't it?" Naruto said, giving her a sidelong glance. "I didn't know..sorry. _She's had to deal with their shit just like me..."_

"Don't worry about it" She replied, "At least now you don't have to worry about being the only one in Konoha who's had to put up with it." She turned around till she was facing him, sitting cross-legged on the bed, "Now, I believe it's my turn to ask something; what's with the sudden personality flip? At the exams you were, no offense, acting kinda dopey and didn't seem like you were taking it seriously."

Naruto looked down for a moment, a resigned grin on his face, "Heh, I knew people would start asking, especially when they learned what I did to the teme. Just as well, I guess. Without Ojiji around, I dunno how long I'd be able to keep it up anyway."

Anko watched, curiosity evident on her face as he gritted his teeth and reached around to his side, "Damn it..most of my muscles are still healing." He pulled up the top half of the hospital PJs he had on to expose his side. The special jounin's eyes widened Naruto seemed to peel a tag off his side from outta nowhere before he hadn't it to her, it resembled an explosive tag, but the seals and marks were far more complex than anything she'd ever seen

"What the hell are these??" She stared at the piece of paper for a moment before hearing the sound of something being peeled from the skin before the blonde held out a second tag. No sooner did she look at it than she saw the air ripple around the boy.

An indicator of a genjutsu in the process of dropping.

"Again..what the hell!?"

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"You want to WHAT!?" Tsunade yelled, glaring at the village council.

"Uzumaki is becoming too dangerous, Tsunade....-sama" Koharu quickly added at the glare she was given, "We've all saw the medical reports, he savaged the last loyal member of one of Konoha's strongest clans!"

"After the little bastard tried to kill him with an A-rank assassination jutsu!" Tsume snapped, "Frankly, he should be thankful Uzumaki didn't try to return the favor!"

Koharu ignored her and continued, "Compound fracture of the left ulna and radius, dislocated right shoulder, broken jaw, crushed nose resulting in partial collapse of the nasal cavity, concussion, black eye, seventeen ribs either bruised or broken and broken right hip and femur. And this!" She tossed a piece of paper onto the table, "The blatent torture he inflicted by burning away a patch of Uchiha's skin! The medics even found residual traces of the demon's chakra around the wound! That..that _beast _must be executed!"

"SILENCE!" Tsunade bellowed, getting the attention of everyone, "Unless you're already going senile, Koharu." She ignored the indignant look the woman shot her, "It would seem you've conveniently forgotten that the patch burned away was also the spot that had the curse seal Orochimaru placed on him. When I had Jiraiya seal up Uchiha's chakra and Sharingan.." A burst of KI was enough to silence the protests of the civilian side, "As I was saying, when Jiraiya applied the seals, he confirmed that the Kyuubi's chakra was enough to overload the mark and destroy it."

On the inside, however, Tsunade was a mix of confusion and worry, _"What the hell happened at that valley, Naruto?_

"Either way, Tsunade-Sama. It's apparent that Uzumaki has been hiding something something from us." Homura cut in, "The boy's skills were barely passing in the academy, Kakashi-san's reports have indicated the boy was lackluster at best, and both his opponents in the exam were beaten primarily by luck yet he displays this kind of ferocity when it's just him and one other. If he's willing to do this to his own teammate, who's to say he won't do the same, or even worse to another, or even a civilian? For all we know, the seal could be breaking down and the fox is influencing the boy. While I agree that he should be punished for the severity of the injuries he inflicted, I believe execution is a bit extreme."

"I agree, " Danzo spoke up, "Which is why I feel banishment would be more appropriate. It would still remove the threat and also set an example for the other shinobi."

The former warhound had already began to make plans to have a squad retrieve the boy the minute he was out of sight of the village. _"He'll need to be properly retrained, but it shouldn't be difficult to break him."_

"Banish?! Naruto almost died bringing back your precious Uchiha and this is how you reward him!?" Inochi Yamanaka almost yelled at the three, "That boy intentionally left to join up with a known enemy of Konoha! We should have sent hunter-nin after him!"

"An act caused by the dem..!" Koharu started before the Hokage's fist went through the table right in front of her.

"Finish that sentance and I will enforce the Third's law..._personally!" _The slug sannin snarled at the elder

"Tsunade-sama! Please calm down!" Homura tried his best to keep things from reverting to spilled blood...namely Koharu's. "I believe she was refering to Kakashi's reports that Uzumaki repeatedly displayed bouts of childish jealousy towards Uchiha's skills, to the point where he had to step in. It's apparent that is why he left. Konoha cannot afford to have this type of pettiness in its ranks."

"Troublesome. If Naruto Uzumaki is petty, I'll challenge Gai to a dance-off in my underwear." Shukaku muttered, ignoring the double-take the Ino-Shika-Cho's other two members did.

"Yes...well, be as it may, the evidence is conclusive. All those in favor of banishment?" The elders, a small handful of shinobi, and the entire civilian half raised their hands.

"Opposed?" Aside from the Hokage and those that spoke out favorably towards Naruto, only Chouza Akimichi, Shibi Aburame, and surprising everyone, Hiashi Hyuuga.

"While I personally have no love for the boy, he was the one that brought Neji out of the spiral of hatred he was in. And for that, I owe him a debt." Was all the man would say, ignoring the elders' scowls.

Homura cleared his throat, "With a majority in favor, Naruto Uzumaki is from Konoha. He shall have seventy-two hours after recovery to leave or he will be labeled a nuke-nin. This meeting is adjourned." Both he and Koharu could barely keep the smug looks off their faces as the verdict went.

As the council filed out, the members that voted against the order offering their apologies to Tsunade for the loss, she sat there and quietly seethed, "Inochi?"

"Yes, Tsunade-Sama?" The other blonde stopped at the door.

"I want you to go and perform a mind probe on Uchiha. Look through everything from Team 7's first meeting with Kakashi onward. I don't give a damn if he's awake or not."

"A probe? B-But Tsunade-Sama..." Inochi could scarcely believe his ears. A mental probe was normally reserved for interrogation when the prisoner passed out.

The woman's grip on the table snapped, then crushed, a chunk of the table off in her hand, "Protocols and the council can both kiss my ass! I want answers from the source. Now get going." She watched as the man nodded and quickly made his way out, _"These bastards think they can kick out the only reason I even came back to this place and not expect me to fight??_ _Oh HELL NO!"_

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Anko could only stare as the ripple finally dissapated, leaving behind an image that caused two simultaneous responses to pop up in her head: _What. the. hell.??' _and_ 'Hel-lo!"_

The figure beside her momentarily chuckled, an octave or two deeper than originally, before hefting a still aching hand out, "Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze."

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Well, there's the first full chapter.

For those of you wondering what it was Naruto used on Sasuke....I flipped a coin (Heads: technique. Tails: Bloodline. did it two-outta-three three times.) Tails won twice so it's a bloodline. (more details in next chapter, and Hinata finally shows:)

Anyway, as for the name...wanna call it either **o-ba-doraibu (overdrive) **or **onsoku** **(speed of sound) **But suggestions are welcome.

Plus, Harem results! Well, since so many combinations were chosen, I had to count out ones for each girl. (I lost my place with Anko and Hana after they went past 20+)

For those of you that wanted Ino and FemKyuubi..I'm sorry, but they were the two lowest voted (Tenten just squeaked by) So they will be left out.

Next Time: I was the actor, but Ojiji was the costume designer.


	3. Chapter 4

Chapter 3:

When the Truth Sets You Free.

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"Ok, I'll repeat it....What. The. Hell!?" Anko half-yelled as she watched the blonde's body body ripple for a moment as he pulled the other tag off. The second it left his skin, the Naruto she was talking to faded away, being replaced by another. This one, however was signifigantly different.

He still had the hospital pajamas they had put on him when he arrive, but now it was easy to see they were the wrong size, especially since this Naruto was a goof three to four inches taller, putting him just a shade above the Uchiha heightwise. The bright yellow hair rested on his head in a somewhat more relaxed way, though it did retain some of its spikeyness. Since the PJs he had on were short-sleeved, she made a mental note of the visible muscle; he wasn't ripped, but there was obviously some definition.

What truly caught her attention was his face when he turned towards her; the once permanant grin and boisterous expression was replaced with the look of a young man who knew pain on an intimate level. The whisker marks were broader and looked as if they were grooves in his face. A scar was also noticeable, running from his right cheek down across both lips halfway to his chin. The bright blue eyes were now several shades darker and had a certain coldness about them, even with the grin he had.

"A genjutsu..?? But..the ero-cyclops said you couldn't do them to save your life. And why would you have one on anyway? And what's the deal with the 'Namikaze'" Anko said, still trying to wrap her mind around what she saw, "And what the hell ARE these??" She shook the tags in her fist, not really enjoying being this perplexed. Although, she had to admit, if this really was what he actually looked like, it was pretty easy on the eyes.

"Ok, first things first." He said, holding a hand up to get her to settle down, "First off; I could never really use genjutsu to start with. I don't know why, I just couldn't get them to work right. However, the one I had on..that's what's in your hand right now.

"Say what?"

"Their a prototype the Fourth created. They were designed for long-term infiltration missions by storing a heavy-duty genjutsu to disguise the wearer, one even the Hyuugas and Uchihas couldn't see through. Just design it and the tags would absorb the image. They were supposed to draw on the person's chakra at intervals to keep the jutsu powered, unfortunately the tags ended up drawing a constant flow. Even an ANBU would only be able to handle it for maybe half a day at best before being forced to remove them to rest or pass out from chakra exhaustion."

A look of realization crossed her face, "But someone with an insane store, like you, could handle it, right?"

"Bingo..." He started to say something before he suddenly froze up and looked irritated, "Damn it! No, you blasted hairball, I am NOT asking her that! So shut it!"

Anko cocked an eye at him, "Anything I should be worried about?"

"No..just that damn fox wanting me to ask you something about your underwear." He replied, muttering, "Hairball's worse than the Pervert."

"The fox...as in..?"

"Yeah, the Kyuubi." He held up a hand before she could say anything else, "Relax, I'll explain. Best if I start from the beginning."

"This I gotta hear" She proclaimed, getting herself comfortable, "Um, before you do, can I get a bite to eat?" She chuckled sheepishly, "I haven't had lunch yet."

"Ok, I could use something myself. Hungry enough to eat just about anything right now." He tried to lift his arm up to make the seal for kage bunshin but cursed loudly, "SHIT! Dammit, can't pick my arm up all the way until the bones've finished growing." He scowled, putting a hand where the chidori had penetrated.

"Relax, gaki. You forgot I'm still a jounin." Anko responded, summoning up a couple of her own shadow clones, "What'll it be?"

"As long as it's edible." Came the answer, "Listen, if you can I need you to stop by my apartment. There's a loose floorboard behind the stove with a box under it. Could you bring it on the way?"

"Don't see why not." She replied. After getting directions to his place, the clones headed out. "All right, spill."

"Well, to start off, I've had that genjutsu going since I was about 7. The old man talked me into it. All the crap they gave me wore on my patience and I started hating back, pretty soon I was fighting back. A few fights I started, mainly from wanting payback. However, he was worried that people would start using that as proof that i really was the 'demon' and asked me to consider a plan he had cooked up. The idea was that maybe if I seemed more like a minor inconvenience, then maybe they'd stop seeing me as a target and leave me alone. At first, I didn't wanna go along with it, since it felt like I was surrendering to them. But, he finally resorted to begging me and I gave in. I gave him my word that'd I'd keep it for as long as possible. And with that, 'Naruto the Hyperactive Knuckleheaded Prankster' was born."

The snake mistriss snorted, "Like that helped."

"Tell me about it. Instead it only encouraged them to look down their noses at me. But, I said I'd keep it up as long as I could and my word is something I do NOT go back on, acting or not. That didn't mean I stopped wanting to hurt a few people, though. A couple times, I let the act slip" The blonde's eyes darkened for a moment, a gesture Anko recognized instantly.

"You killed someone, didn't you?"

"His name was Daisuke Hyuuga..."

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Inochi scowled as he entered the guarded hospital room Sasuke was being kept in. From what the ANBU on watch had said, Kakashi had been in there ever since he arrived, though he had just left to use the restroom a few minutes ago.

_"Hasn't he even been to check out his OTHER injured student!? What the hell is that man thinking?" _He thought angrily, looking at the still unconcious genin and having to bite back the whistle that almost escaped. Sasuke's head was almost completely bandaged and the indentions indicated his jaw had been wired. The cast over his left arm, chest and pins in his hip and thigh showed he wouldn't be getting out of that bed any time soon,

_"Heh, the 'dead last' worked you over good." _Inochi chuckled as he began going through seals. Regardless of what the rest of the council thought, he considered the 'last loyal Uchiha' just too damn full of himself to be remotely likable. Fortunately, that line of thought made it a bit easier to do what he came here for.

He pressed his palm to the boy's forehead and muttered, **"****Dokushinjutsu" **The prone figure's brief but sudden tensing indicating the jutsu was successful and the Yamanaka family head began his task of searching through the memories of Team 7.

Kakashi returned from the loo ten minutes later to find a now seething Inochi Yamanaka outside his (in his mind, anyway) only worthwhile student's room. Had he bothered to follow his rule of 'look underneath the undeneath', he would have seen the man was glaring swords at the lazy porn reader.

Kakashi greeted him with an eye-smile, "Ah, Inochi- san, what brings...?" Was all he could get out before the village's only other male blonde buried his fist in the jounin's face.

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before anyone complains, you'll get to see both Naruto and Inochi's explanations in the next chapter, plus. Hinata finally makes her appearance.

Next chapter: More truths, Sentancing, and the Hokage's Revenge.


	4. Chapter 5

Just so you know. I'm gonna be using '**XXXXXXXX' **to indicate flashbacks.

Chapter 4:

Karma.

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Hinata had to force herself not to enjoy what she had just done. She wasn't completely proud of it, but the pink-haired banshee had pushed her last button. The only reason Ino wasn't joining her 'rival' in a similar punishment was the fact she looked ready to hurt the girl herself...

**XXXXXXXX**

**(5 minutes ago)**

"THAT WORTHLESS BAKA!" Sakura roared, stomping through the halls in her attempt to find the room her blonde teammate was in. Her current mission: Make the baka pay for what he did to her Sasuke-kun, whether or not he was awake.

Ino had to almost run to keep up with her, "Forehead! Will you get a grip!? You're screaming like a psycho, for Kami's sake! And why are you getting so worked up about anyway? All the guys were nearly killed chasing after him!" The response she received sent a bit of a chill down her spine.

Sakura simply waved a hand dismissively, "That's beside the point! I TOLD that stupid Naruto to bring my Sasuke-kun back, NOT take out all his jealousy on him! That moron can't even follow a simple direction!"

What neither of them were aware of was that Hinata was nearby, trying to get up the nerve to go visit her crush, and close enough to hear their conversation. Like Ino, she could hardly believe what Sakura was saying as well. _"Naruto-kun nearly lost his life bringing Sasuke back! And this..this is how she repays him...?" _She was disgusted and incensed by how callous the girl was being to the others who had gone on the mission, much less her blonde crush.

Truth be told, she had never really liked the Haruno girl. Between the fact she balked at actually trying to be a decent ninja, her obsession with the Uchiha, and the unprovoked bouts of violence towards her favorite blonde for the smallest things, Hinata was kinda surprised in herself that she had managed to hold out this long from just pounding 'Pinky' into the dirt.

What happened next, finally broke that resistance; and with it, ended an era.

Ino gaped, "I..I can't believe I'm even hearing this! Don't you even CARE about the fact that that bastard chose to turn his back on everyone and deliberately tried to kill a fellow Leaf shinobi..his own teammate?!" It was taking all her self control not to tattoo Sakura's face, who simply gave a derisive snort.

"Sasuke-kun was just confused! Besides, it's the Dead Last's fault he left in the first place! He should be thankful Sasuke-kun didn't take him out anyway." Sakura sneered, "Not like he'd be a big loss anyway... "

That was the last sound that escaped her lips before a small, but surprisingly strong fist impacted with her gut. A gasp was all she could let out before another came up and dropped her via a right cross, the last thing she saw before darkness claimed her was a pissed off Hyuuga heiress.

"Holy...!" Was all Ino could say as she watched Sakura drop into a heap, the side of her face already starting to bruse up, "H-Hinata..? Wha..what...?" Aside from that, the only thing she could do was stare at Hinata and do an impression of a fish.

Whether it was from having enough of hearing her crush get badmouthed, feeling like it was just too close to how she was treated back home, or a combination..no one really knows..but in those few minutes, everything that made her a shy, timid girl no longer existed.

**XXXXXXXX**

It took Ino a little while to recover from the shock, but when she finally regained her composure, the only answer she could get out of the girl was, "The bitch crossed the line." Before _striding _towards Naruto's room, leaving the Yamanaka in amazement.

She quickly reached the room her crush was in and steeled herself, ready to tell him exactly how she felt. Before she could, though....

"You killed someone, didn't you?" Hinata recognized it as the voice of the instructor from the chunin exams, Anko Mitarashi.

"His name was Daisuke Hyuuga.." This time it was Naruto.

Those five words threw the young kunoichi for a loop. Daisuke was one of her older cousins, around the same age as Iruka. He was also someone she hated with a passion; the way he leered at her and other girls made her stomach turn. Unfortunately, he was considered a favorite by some of the elders and felt that gave him the right to do whatever he wanted. She bit back a curse on his soul when she remembered reports of girls at the academy had been attacked on their way home and...she shook her head to try and stop thinking about it. ANBU later found his still-warm body in one of the alleys after someone heard a scream. His face and chest had been bashed in and the girl that was almost his fourth victim was found curled up hiding behind some of the trash cans. Since she hid as soon as whatever came jumped him, she couldn't give much info except that he was the one who had attacked her. They never found the killer, but once she told, the others were able to come forward and confirm it. The elders demanded retribution, but no suspects were listed, and when the information came out that one of their own had sunk to being a child molester, Daisuke was promptly disowned as a Hyuuga.

He continued, "I was in my third year at the academy. It was a few days after I had just turned ten and I was heading to Ichiraku's to get a bite to eat when I heard a commotion off to the side." The scowl that appeared on his face, cold and carrying about as much pity as Orochimaru on a good day, was enough to make Anko flinch, "The worthless piece of shit had a girl pinned against the wall, chuckling about he was.." Hinata could hear him fight back the bile that rose up, "About how he was gonna 'teach her to be a woman'..I recognized her as a girl a year or so above me..now, I'm no genius, but I'm sure as hell not stupid. The look on her face told me everything, and i just...reacted. He wasn't paying attention to what was around him so I was able to surprise him with a tackle. As near as I knew, the girl ran off when she could. Needless to say, he wasn't too happy about that. The kunai he tried to open my face with got that across. "

He ran a finger over the scar on his face, showing that was the source of it, "Unfortunately, things were still kinda one sided for a little while. But then said something that sealed his fate, though neither of us knew it at that moment, and brought out something I wasn't expecting."

Anko was leaning foward by now, hanging onto everything he said, "What? What? C'mon, kid, don't leave me hanging!"

**XXXXXXXX**

Daisuke sneered, arrogance literally wafting off him, "So, you're the runt Hinata seems to have taken a liking to." The sneer increased, "Well, it looks like I'll have to 'help' her change her taste then. Maybe she'll scream your name out...."

**XXXXXXXX**

Outside, Hinata's blood ran cold, one of her own clan was willing to...to rape her..? Just to punish Naruto?

"I never learned if he was serious, or just trying to be mocking, but when he said that...I felt something flick on,"

**XXXXXXXX**

"What's wrong, demon brat? Too afraid to fight now?" The man taunted as Naruto's head dropped. What he didn't know about was the other voice, one only the boy could hear..

**"This power is your's now, little one. Use it, and let this slime learn what fear and pain truly is!"**

"Who are you...??"He whispered, feeling chakra start to whip around him before a sudden surge made his whole body tense up.

**"We'll meet soon, kit. But for now, show that worm the power of the ****Overdrive!"**

He didn't know who it was, but something said the voice was trustworthy before looking to face the Hyuuga.

"N-Nani?!" Was all the man could say, taking a step back in the process. The boy's face was twisted into an almost demonic snarl, his irises literally blazing from chakra. Even his whisker marks had a blue glow to them.

**XXXXXXXX**

"I never would have expected the fox of all things to intentionally give me a bloodline. The Overdrive; a technique that's basically a turbocharger, it allows me to metabolize my chakra and use it as an alternate to my natural energy stores, in doing so, it also amplifies my strength and speed several times over. Since it's my chakra that's being consumed, I don't have to worry about having to stop to catch my breath. It's kinda like using the Gates, but not quite as extreme." He gave a grin that, oddly enough, make the jounin feel the need to adjust how she was sitting, "It's the same thing that I used to take down Emo-Boy. He may have a fully developed Sharingan, but like Lee said, 'it's worthless if you can't react fast enough'"

Anko could only stare, "Why the hell didn't you tell anyone you have a bloodline? I mean..this place LOVES stuff like that!" She blurted, only to have the decency to look sheepish when he lifted his shirt to show the seal on his stomach, "Oh, yeah...sorry."

"It's cool, no doubt there, but it's not without a price. Since my body is feeding on my chakra while it's active, I can't use any ninjutsu, not even a simple henge. Plus, I can only have it going for a couple of minutes before it takes a toll and my muscles start to shred from the intensity, and bones fracture from strain. Imagine a six-hour high impact workout compressed into thirty seconds and that's what my body starts to feel like after that." He shrugged, "That's the main reason I didn't use it during the Chunin Exam; That and I didn't want the shitstains I have to call team mates to know.

Outside, Hinata found herself in a daze trying to process what she had heard, _"' Naruto-kun has a bloodline?? The fox'..? Why...what's..what's going on??" _Before she could continue, though, a hand on her shoulder brought the clan heiress back to reality.

"You know it's impolite to listen in like that, don't you?"" A slightly amused voice chirped behind her.

Both occupants look as the door open to reveal Anko's clones, both laden down with dango boxes. Though, neither were expecting to see the third party between them.

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Tsunade was doing all she could to fight back the urge to give the cyclopiean jounin a sex-change with dull kunai and no anesthetic as Inochi finished telling her what he had gathered from Sasuke's memories, "That bastard deliberately refused to teach Naruto just so the Uchiha would be top genin?!" The sake bottle in her grip cracking a bit.

Inochi did his best to keep his composure around the irate sannin. Thankfully she didn't hold it against him when he explained about clocking the jounin, "I'm afraid so, Tsunade-Sama. From the Wave mission and on, it appears that Kakashi focus only on Uchiha while telling Naruto to do chakra exercises, though he conveniently neglected to offer him any instruction or advice, even when he asked for help." He took a breath before continuing, "Plus it seems he actively encouraged Uchiha and Haruno to taunt and berate the boy when they had the chance to, apparently to discourage him from continuing as a ninja, or provoke him into lashing out so Hatake would have an excuse to throw him out. " He cringed when the sake bottle finally shattered, "I took a look through his memories as well while he was unconscious...I take it you know about the bell test?" A short nod indicated for him to continue, "Leaving him tied to the post was no accident, Hatake actually found Naruto's cries for help amusing.."

"And his reports?" The KI she was putting out was enough to make one of the security ANBU hidden in the room whimper.

"Well, the end results of success were real, the majority was either exaggerated, or outright fabricated so it would make his 'prize student' look good and make Naruto out to be starting petty squabbles with the team."

"Is he still at the hospital?"

"Most likely. After I was done, I set him back in the room."

"Bring Hatake here...NOW" She ground out to one of the ANBU there, "Don't bother being gentle with him."

Inochi gulped audibly. For a moment, he felt pity for the man...

Then it passed.

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"Caught her standing outside," One of Anko's clones said, "Dunno how long she was there, though."

"N-Naruto-kun..I.."

"Hinata?" Naruto paled a bit "H-How much did you hear?"

"I..I didn't mean to..but when I heard Anko-san say you killed Daisuke....and when you mentioned something about a fox..I couldn't help..."

Running a hand through his hair, Naruto let out a sigh. She had heard for him to tell her not to worry about it....he just prayed she wouldn't act like the rest, "Hinata, you better sit down.."

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I know, some people are probably gonna say it's moving too slow..

All I can say in my defense is I just keep writing until my muse says "Hey, this looks like a good spot to finish the chapter" and I listen.

Next time.

A farewell to Konoha....but not without a little vengeance.


	5. Chapter 6

**Daniel 29: **Not really. Was listening to the song on Youtube and it just sorta popped in my head.

**GravityTheWIZARD: **Better yet, Rusty AND Dull. Though it'd still have to sterile 'cause of the Hippocratic Oath.

**youngd2506: **It'll be gradual. As for my other stories, their still alive, just working on them when inspiration comes. Though I'm contemplating giving 'Naruto: Reborn' a second life.

Chapter 5:

A Farewell To Arms

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Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in unease; this was something he had hoped to put off at least till he was a hokage candidate, "You better sit down, Hinata." He watched as the pale-eyed girl took one of the chairs reserved for visitors, "What I'm about to tell you was labled an S-class secret that means life behind bars or execution if you tell anyone, ok? Since it's my secret, though, I can tell those I want to."

"O-Ok.." She nodded, somewhat startled that he'd even have something like that.

"All right. You know about what happened thirteen years ago during the Kyuubi attack, right?"

"H-hai." She was too concerned to worry about blushing right now, "The Fourth defeated it, it-it's mentioned whenever they teach us about the previous Hokages,"

"True, but it's not the complete truth. He defeated it, but not like we're told. The fox couldn't be outright destroyed, so he sealed it...into a newborn baby boy..on October the tenth, thirteen years ago."

"October ten...but..that's _your_birth...day..." Hinata's eyes widened when she felt the pieces finally fall into place: all the glares, the calls of 'monster' and 'demon', she remembered that he always vanished the day of the Kyuubi Festival, even on a school day. "N-Naruto..."

He nodded solemnly, "He sealed it into me...I'm the container of the Kyuubi no Youko. Or as far as the majority's concerned, I AM the fox."

Silence reigned for a minute..

*THUD!*

"OOF!" Naruto nearly fell off the bed as the bluenette plowed into him, her face buried in his chest, "Hinata??" He froze when he felt the top he had on getting wet, _"She..she's crying?'_

"They're bakas! All of them!" She called out, her voice slightly muffled from her position, "Anyone with a brain could tell you're not the Kyuubi!"

He gingerly set his arms around her, "Thanks, Hinata-chan." He couldn't help but grin as she looked up him, blushing brightly,

"_You..you called me 'chan'.." _She hugged him tighter. Anko had to fight the urge to 'awww' at the scene.

"You know..I just noticed, you barely stuttered at all." Naruto pointed out, and added, unable to resist, "You sound a lot cuter without it,"

Her heart did a backflip, _"He said I sound cute!" _It took all her available willpower not to let out the happy squeal she was holding on to.

"Um, far be it from me to break up this adorable scene but, can we eat now??" The growl of two stomachs was enough to punctuate that remark.

The younger pair chuckled at that, "Yeah. You hungry, Hinata?" He noticed the clones had already set all the boxes, along with a small black box, down before dispelling

"A little." She responded, realizing she'd forgotten to have lunch.

Anko was already started, a half dozen boxes in her lap, "Then dig in." She said between mouthfuls, "Oh, here's that thing you wanted, gaki." She tossed him the box, "Dunno what's so important about it though."

The blonde chuckled, opening it to reveal a scroll before unfurling it on the bed. A few seconds later, a duffel bag along with something wrapped in a cloth appeared on the bed, "I had planned to wear this once I became chunin, but since I'm letting the real me out, no sense letting it go to waste."

"Ano..Naruto-kun..what do you mean the real...?" Hinata paused as she began to notice the differences in her crush's apperance, and her eyes almost went saucer-shaped.

"You're not alone, kid." Anko laughed, "I had damn near the same reaction."

Naruto rolled his eyes at her, "Hinata-chan, you probably wanna sit back down again."

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_"Nnngh...where am I...?" _Sasuke blinked a few times with his currently good eye, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness, _"Wait...I'm back in Konoha? SHIT! How...?" _A growl escaped his throat since that was pretty much all he could do. Looking around as best he could, he noticed something on his right arm and winced as he lifted his hand to look at it. it wasn't broken, but that didn't mean it still hurt like hell.

"I see you've spotted your suppression seals, traitor." His eye shot over to see a female ANBU with a tiger mask on. The contempt was evident in the woman's voice, "Don't even bother trying to use your chakra or Sharingan. Jiraiya-sama made sure of that. Though, after what Uzumaki-kun did to you, I doubt there'll be much difference."

_"Supression!? How DARE that miserable...!" _He tried to move only to let out a muffled cry of pain as his body promptly reminded him of what had happened, how the 'dead last' had ripped a sure victory from his hands and beat him into the dirt with it, _"Where..where did that dobe get that kind of power!? Kakashi made sure he was weak, I heard him myself!"_

She chuckled, as if reading his thoughts, "And I wouldn't worry about Hatake. Odds are you won't be seeing him, or daylight for that matter, for a very long time."

Sasuke could do little more than glare at her since any movement was met by his body's painful protest.

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Shizune stiffed a chuckle at the sight of a muscled, bear-masked ANBU toting one irate Kakashi Hatake by the scruff of his neck like a disobedient cat.

"Sorry it took so long, Hokage-Sama." Kuma said, unceremoniously dropping the man in the middle of the room, "Hatake-san was rather 'reluctant' to leave his student. But Tora's keeping an eye on him."

Tsunade held back a dark chuckle, her sensei's reports showed Tora was one of the handful of ANBU that could truly be trusted; plus the fact the kunoichi detested the Uchiha's ego and attitude, "That's fine Kuma." She gave him the go-ahead to leave.

He stopped before exiting, "Oh, I passed by Uzumaki-san's room on the way to get him. Sounds like he's woke up." The man added before leaving.

_"Well, at least there's SOMETHING positive to hear today...just wish I knew how he's going to take the news. Right now, though.." _She leveled her gaze at the still fuming jounin.

"Tsunade-same, I must protest! Both Tora and Kuma have overstepped.."

"Shut it, _Jounin _Hatake!" Tsunade snapped, venom lacing every word, "If ANYONE has overstepped their boundries, it's you!"

His single eye widened, "W-what do.."

"After a bit of investigation, it's come to my attention that not only have you deliberatly put false information in your mission reports to make one of your students look good and denigrate another at the same time." She carried herself in a calm manner, but her eyes belied the fury she was about to unload on the lazy man.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Kakashi responded.

"Oh? Then maybe you can explain the times you sent Naruto Uzumako off to work on his chakra without once providing any recommendation or advice . Yet, you trained Sasuke Uchiha in taijutsu and a fair number of ninjutsu...though I wonder if you just let him copy them. The only exception is genjutsu, since that's not your speciality."

"Well, he is my student. And Naruto's control is the worst." Both eyes widened when her's narrowed, killing intent slowly filling the room.

"And let's not forget how you had the nerve to encourage Sasuke Uchiha AND Sakura Haruno to taunt and mock him;" The words came out in an almost snarling manner, "In the attempt to make cease his desire to be a shinobi, or hoping that he'd retaliate so you could justify having him pulled from service !"

"H-how did you know that!?" He blurted out, not expecting that. He made them both promise they wouldn't tell anyone so when they were finally rid of him, they wouldn't be suspect, and more importantly himself. Less than a split second later, he wished he hadn't said that, since he was now off the floor thanks to Tsunade's grip on his throat.

"How I learned is a moot point, now that you just conformed it, you miserable sack of SHIT!" She growled, tightening her grip until his visible eye began to roll back. She snorted and dropped him, though she still had a hold of his neck, "Hatake, you constantly spout about teamwork and 'those that abandon their comrades are less than trash. And yet, not only have you shown blatant favoritism, you actually went out of your way to try and ensure one of your OWN genin students was impeded, but you worked to try and even stop him from continuing as a ninja!" She looked him dead in the eye, "Care to give me an explanation?"

"U..Uzumaki has..has no place being a ninja.." He gasped, self-preservation overriding common sense, "I picked the three of them..because I heard about their dislike for each..other and that Haruno was Sasuke's...biggest cheerleader, and that she didn't like him either...since he was stupid enough to go after her even after being told no."

"So you planned this from the start?"

"The..the council wanted me to ensure that..that he wouldn't have a chance to progress..I took it because...because.."

"SPIT IT OUT!"

"Because the damn demon has the gall to look like Sensei and I wanted to teach him a lesson!" He promptly fell to the floor gasping for air. Tsunade, on the other hand, stood there, a blank expression on her face.

At least, it WAS blank until he stood back up, before morphing into a visage of unholy rage that quite possibly would've made even the Shinigami proud, "You had best be thankful that Minato isn't here, _Hatake._" She spat his name out with venom, "Because this'll feel like MERCY COMPARED TO WHAT HE'D DO!" She roared, the sound of bones crushing quickly followed as the chakra-amplified fist impacted with the side of his face and nearly put the man through the reinforced wall.

"Kakashi Hatake, as the Fifth Hokage, I hearby strip you of your status as a jounin and as a shinobi of Konoha." She reached down and tore the leaf emblem off his headband, "You're fired."

The barely conscious copycat nin's eyes widened in terror before darkness finally took over. Usually when shinobi were removed from active service, it was mostly due to injuries that permanently hindered their ability to perform or the physical and/or mental exertion became too much to bear. Only gross misconduct or a severe abuse of power warranted complete and utter removal. When that happened, said ninja also had all jutsu knowledge, removed and chakra sealed. They were also banned from possession of any ninja tools, weaponry, or equipment. And in his case, that included his Sharingan.

A punishment considered by any shinobi to be the ultimite humiliation.

Shizune watched as her sensei had ANBU remove the now ex-nin, giving then explicit instructions to make sure the punishment was carried out. Normaly she would've already stepped in and tried to calm her down, or at least hold her off...but this time, considering what the man had done concerning the boy she and Tsunade saw as a surrogate younger brother, she decide he brought it on himself. "You know the council's going to raise hell about this, Sensei."

The other woman took a few deep breaths before chuckling, "You say that like it's something serious, Shizune. You weren't at the meeting. Those wrinkled bastards wanted me to actually PARDON that little traitor! Spouting that he was forced out of Konoha by Naruto before the Sound Four grabbed him. And then to demand my little brothers EXECUTION!?" She shook her head, "No..I'm done...done with them, done with this whole village. And I'm willing to bet once word gets out, there'll be a few others thinking the same thing." She downed the remainder of her coffee cup, "Come on, let's go see how the gaki's doing, After that, we have...work to do."

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"A-all this time..you've just been pretending to be..a..a..?" Hinate couldn't bring herself to say the word. As happy as she was that her crush really wasn't like that, it was still a little hard to believe

Naruto let out a small laugh, "You can say it, Hinata-chan. 'An idiot', yeah. The pranks did let me blow off steam though, seemed better embarrassing someone than beating the hell out of them, for the time being at least. Much as I disliked having to act the fool, it did come with a bright side; I could train in peace without having to worry about anyone I didn't want knowing poking around. Especially my.." He scowled, at the next word "My teammates.."

"What do you mean? You sound as if you hate them."

"Because I do. I had reason to suspect that Kakashi was playing favorites, but didn't have get anything to prove until Wave when one of my shadow clones caught him training exclusively with the teme. Every time I went him, it 'you need to work on your chakra'...sometimes he didn't even bother looking up from his damn book."

As if on cure, both Hinata and Anko expressed their opinion of the man in one sentence; "What a dick!"

He snickered at the idea of once-shy Hinata calling someone that, "I told the old man, but without any undisputable evidence, nothing could really be done. That and the fact the council would claim that he was 'just teaching us different things'. Uchiha..well, that's obvious; he full of himself, thinks the world owes him, and has his head so far up his own ass he can probably see his appendix." He polished off a dango box and grabbed another, "As for Haruno..ugh...I'm ashamed to admit it, but for a little while, I thought about her the same say she thought about SasUKE...to be honest, Im' still convinced he's a yoai, with all the fangirls throwing themselves at him, you'd think he'd have at least copped a feel by now.!"

Anko nearly lost the mouthful she had laughing while Hinata flushed scarlet, "N-Naruto-kun!"

"Anyway, I learned the hard way that what I though was perfection anything but. School had let out and I decided to go say hi. In return, I got a black eye and told that ' Sasuke-Kun's the only one for me, not a baka loser like you!'. Thankfully I have a high pain threshold so even though they still bruised, I didn't really feel her punches. After that, I figured she'd be a good prop for the act."

"So..you never really did like her?" The pale-eyed girl brightened up a bit.

"Not after that. Far as I'm concerned she's a screechy bitch. Granted, I got a kick out of pissing her off. That and it helped distract me a little from the one girl I really did like, even though she was outta my league. She was prettier, nicer and a hell of a lot more pleasant than Pinky."

"Oh?" The jounin grinned and scooted closer, "Care to fill us in?"

Naruto instantly regretted letting that bit out, "Uh..why should I?"

The grin widened, "Because you're outnumbered two to one and we'll tickle you senseless until you do."

He gulped at that idea. Pain was something he could handle with little difficulty. Pleasure on the other hand..

Knowing he had just been put in a corner, the blonde relented and muttered, in a low voice, "...inada...."

"Didn't quite get that." She leaned in.

"You." He said...

Looking at Hinata, who could only stare in shock for a second, before fainting, a look of surprised bliss on her face.

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Elsewhere...

A figure opened a single, half-awake eye to survey the sensation it had just recieved, looking out past the bars that confined it. The eye widened slightly before crinkling a bit in approval.

**"Heh, 'bout damn time time, kit." **

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I know I said this chapter would have the leaving, and I was planning it, but once I started, I got an idea and it changed the chapters whole dynamic. I write my chapters all in one go and one the fly, so that's happened more than once.

Because of this. I'm gonna stop putting in 'next time's since i never really know what'll come to mind.


	6. Chapter 7

Chapter 6:

Darkest Before the Dawn

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Tsunade was lost in thought as she and Shizune made their way through the hall to her fellow blonde's room. She had found Ino still trying to wake up Sakura who now sported a swollen cheek and missing tooth. Ino told her about the pinkette ranting about wanting to beat up Naruto for what he did to Sasuke. She didn't quite go into detail, but admitted she said Naruto wouldn't be much of a loss before Hinata, who had been nearby the whole time, knocked her out with a one-two combo.

Making a mental note to have a talk with the girl later, she took a moment to help revive her and told Ino to make sure she stayed in the hospital until she came back. Once she was sure Sakura's eyes were open, the two of them (along with Tonton) continued to Naruto's room.

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Meanwhile, said blonde was busy trying to wake up Hinata, "Wow, she's really out of it this time.." He said, trying to

While he was doing that, Anko finally let her curiosity get the best of her and began to unwrap the cloth, noting that whatever was in it was most likely something he didn't want the rest of Team 7 to know about. When it finally fell off, her eyes settled on a beautiful looking two-handed sword. The scabbard was reinforced courbouille, lacquered and polished to a shine. The T-shaped hilt had black leather wrapped around the handle and a simple spike-shaped pommel. What really caught her eye was the small sapphire set in the center on both sides. Drawing it out to reveal almost four feet of sharpened steel, she spotted the double-edged blade emerging from the mouth of a snarling fox just above the guard and couldn't help but note how fitting it seemed. The blade itself was tinted with red, making it look as if it was still glowing from the forge, and just above the fox head, something was engraved on the blade:

_There is no Courage without Honor,_

_No Joy without Hope,_

_No Loyalty without Trust,_

_No Love without Friendship,_

_No Peace without Justice,_

_No Forgiveness without Repentance._

"Gotta admit, that's actually kinda profound." She said, still admiring the weapon before calling out, "Gaki, where'd you get this? It's beautiful." Though, as she said it, Tsunade chose that time to come in, and see the sword.

"Anko! What in Kami's name are you doing with that in here! Put it away!" She said,

"Baa-chan, that's my sword." Naruto said, causing Anko to have a giggle fit at the double-take both women did when they saw him, even Tonton let out a startled oink

"N-Naruto? Is..is that you??" Tsunade quickly performed a dispelling jutsu just to be sure.

"It's me, or the real me actually. Gimmie a minute, I'm still trying to get Hinata to wake up."

"Speaking of her, it seems she got into a bit of a scuffle with your team mate, Sakura. She's ok, though she'll have one less molar and a bruise on the side of her face for a while." She half-expected the boy to start firing off questions or try to bolt off to find his crush. The response she got, however, was a serious curve-ball: he laughed.

"You mean Hinata-chan dropped her? Oh man, I wish I could've seen that!" He grinned, letting out another cackle.

Shizune nearly dropped Tonton at the laugh, "Naruto! But she's the girl you like...isn't she?"

"The girl I _pretended_ to like, is more accurate."

Tsunade cleared her throat to get their attention, "While I would like to hear this, I'm afraid I have something a bit more pressing. I guess the good news would be best to start off with. Considering the rate you were healing when I left earlier today, you should be healed up enough to leave tomorrow morning."

"Good, the sooner I'm outta this place, the better. Never did like hospitals"

"The bad news, however..." The expression on her face was enough to tell him the next thing out of her mouth was something she definitely did NOT want to say, "I..I'm sorry, Naruto..but the damned council's decided the beating you gave Uchiha is proof that the Kyuubi is beginning to influence you, making you a danger to the village." She paused for a moment, swearing some under her breath, "You've been sentenced to exile from Konoha...you..you've been given three days to leave.." Her voice caught a bit as she tried to finish, "A..any longer..and you'll....you'll be labeled a nuke-nin...."

For Naruto, time seemed to lock up momentarily. He let out a weak laugh, "Y-you're joking, Baa-chan....right?" He climbed to his feet, not even noticing Hinata start to come to.

"They what?!" Anko snapped, the skewer snapping in her hand, "How the hell else was he going to bring the little bastard back!? What'd they expect; Naruto to get on his knees and beg 'pweety pwease with sugar on top'?? They oughta be grateful the shitstain was still breathing!"

"I'm as pissed about this as you are, but Kakashi had fabricated enough in his mission reports to portray you as starting petty fights with Sasuke out of jealousy." Tsunade resisted the desire to take her frustrations out on the door, "Sad to say, he..." She caught herself mid-sentence, glancing towards Hinata"

"It's ok, Baa-chan. I just her about the fuzzball a little while ago. She knows."

The Hokage looked for a moment before nodding, "And she's...?"

Her answer came in the form of a pair of jacketed arms wrapping around the boy. "Those dumbasses can't even see past their own noses!" Came the defiant remark, earning a chuckle of approval from Anko.

Tsunade relaxed at that, _"Looks like someone else who can fit into my plan. _I'm afraid Hatake only saw the fox...he deliberately wanted you three as a team so he could use them to keep you from advancing..."

"So kissing the teme's ass wasn't enough for him, huh?" Naruto muttered, the bones in his hands popping as he tightened them . "'Those who abandon their team members'..he always was an effing hypocrite..." He was completely silent for a moment before moving to the door, taking a moment to notice Hinata's reaction "I need to think for a little while. I'll be all right, Hinata-chan." He said before walking out.

The pale-eyed girl was only able to watch, "Naruto.."

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"GODDAMMIT!" He spat. having found an empty restroom where he could be alone with his thoughts, "Those bastards!"

**"I'm not all that surprised they'd pull something like this, kit." **Came the familiar growl from the back of his mind, **"You know they've always been looking for an excuse to get rid of you, one way or another. Especially now without the old monkey here to back you up."**

"I know.." Naruto muttered, not really worrying about talking to the fox out loud at the moment, "Assholes probably intended to give me the boot regardless of how the mission turned up. Can't believe this...they actually managed to come out on top.. RAH!" He snapped, slamming his fist into the mirror, shattering it. Blood began to trickle down as he began to settle down from the outburst.

**"Easy, kit. I don't want you going all angsty on me, you hear? Besides, throwing you out is going to cost them, remember?" **Kyuubi's voice almost dripped with the thoughts of payback, **"Besides, as far as their concerned, you're no longer even a citizen of Konoha now, and I'm willing to bet they're already making it known. You've been given three days....three days to do whatever you damn well please."**

In that moment, Naruto's disposistion went through a rapid cycle; from anger, to slight confusion, to dawning realization before a dark chuckle escaped his lips.

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Throughout Konoha, a chill swept over the population.

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Finally getting into the meat of the story! Look out, Konoha...three days of misery awaits you.

For those of you wondering where he got the sword..you'll learn that later on.

Coming soon:

Sarutobi: Those troublemakers on the council aren't the only one's who can play dirty.


	7. Chapter 8

Chapter 7:

Karma: Pt.1

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Tsunade yawned sleepily at her desk, still trying to wake up with her mind focused on what she learned yesterday: all these years, the perpetually-cheerful baka was just an act, a plan he and the Third cooked up to try and get the villages to see him as harmless to leave him be..a plan and he showed it only made them worse.

The real Naruto was..for lack of a better term, unexpected. Granted, some of his more large-scale pranks were just an outlet to blow off some steam and inflict, in his opinion, some much needed humiliation of certain people. He WAS loyal, that was true...but only to the few he could really consider his friends. She couldn't blame him when he said that not only was protecting them the real reason he aimed to be Hokage, actually the ONLY reason he'd put his life on the line to protect the village. The rest could watch their own backs as far as he was concerned.

He was also a good bit smarter, too. While he'd admit he wasn't a genius, he was no pushover either. Hell, she thought to herself, he had to be to fool the town for this long.

"Shizune, it's time." She said, earning a nod from her assistant. Steeling herself, she grabbed a blank scroll and pen and set to work.

Before she could begin, there was a knock at the door.

Shizune went to answer it and was somewhat surprised to find who was standing there, "Hinata, what are you doing here this early?"

She let out a breath she had been holding and quietly untied her Konoha headband. "Shizune-san, Hokage-sama...I've come to officially offer my resignation as a Konoha shinobi"

"Resign? But why?" Shizune's expression immedantly shifted to one of concern, "Has something happened with you family??"

"It's not that." She shook her head, "After yesterday, I can no longer allow myself to be part of a village that would willingly treat a child the way Naruto-kun has for so long." She looked down for a moment, "I actually had to stop myself from attempting to permanently cripple a couple of civilians on my way here after overhearing them celebrate his exile." Her grip on the headband tightened, "I know my father nor the elders would never approve of my choice, and possibly demand I be punished for even considering it, so I'm prepared to renounce my clan if necessary."

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Meanwhile, said blonde was up and sighing in relief that his ribs had mended enough to let him use his arm again. Though that didn't last when he remembered that today started his last seventy-two hours in Konoha.

It took him a little while to calm Hinata down yesterday when the whole thing was explained to her. Granted, it was kinda funny to hear her blurt out that that the civilian council and elders were a 'bunch of goat-violating 'tards'. Anko belted out a few things involving sharp objects and rather tender areas of council members..

Both she and Anko hung around for the remainder of the day. While he appreciated the company, he still was a tad relieved when they went home for the night so he could be alone with his thoughts for a little while. Though he wasn't complaining about the good-night kiss he got from the formerly shy clan heiress..

Since his jumpsuit had already been thrown away, he opened up the duffel bag and made a shadow clone to make sure no one would be coming in any time soon.

"Ojiji said I could go ahead and drop the act when I made Chunin..had planned to wear this when that happened, show the real me finally." He let a brief, half-hearted chuckle, "So much for that plan."

**"True, but that's just for here." **Kyuubi commented, **"Konoha isn't the only shinobi village out there, though most of these imbeciles probably like to think just that." **The fox switched gears,** "Anyway, once we get out of here, you know the countdown starts as soon as you leave this building. "**

"Yeah, sons of bitches are already celebrating most likely." A sinister smile etched its way onto the jinchuuriki's face, "Too bad none of them will be able to enjoy it long."

**"So much havoc, so little time." **The fox grinned in perverse glee at the possibilities.

A few minutes later, the clone guarding the door dispelled, leaving an empty room. The now open window and rumpled bed the only sign that anyone had been there

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"Hinata, you realize what that entails, right?" Tsunade asked. She knew she had feelings for the boy, but this was unexpected, "Your clan has been known to severely punish anyone that leaves."

"I know, and to be honest" Both kunoichi were soon looking eye-to-eye, "I don't give a damn about them...I..." Both Tsunade and Shizune noticed the blush she was trying to keep hidden, "If Naruto-kun goes into exile, so will I."

_"She's serious. Then again, considering what we learned last night, I shouldn't be surprised. However, knowing how paranoid Hiashi and those elders are," _She pursed her lips in thought for a moment before glancing down at the blank parchment. As it finally hit her, a grin appeared on her face. This would be interesting, plus it would give a extra kick in the pants to the council as well as make sure her clan couldn't do a damn thing about it. "Hinata, what would you say if I asked you to perform one last mission before you left? A solo one, you understand. Granted, I have no idea how long you would gone...weeks, months..possibly years. But since I'm putting the mission out myself, and as Hokage I can say that Konoha will be footing the payment. Up front, you understand, to pay for food, possible lodging, that sort of thing." She grinned again when Hinata's eyes widened slightly, then went in for the kill, "The mission is to accompany a former Konoha nin to wherever he's planning to go. You have three days to get ready if you accept."

The abrupt squeal was all the answer she needed.

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_Two hours later :_

A solitary figure looked out at the village from his perch atop the Third's head on the hokage monument, wearing a dark grey tank-top, a dark orange spiral decorating the left side of the chest, with a short-sleeve mesh shirt underneath with shinobi pants the same color and black sandals. At first glance, he wouldn't have seemed too far out of place, until one noticed a couple of hundred others standing on the cliff behind him, all dressed in the same fashion, though he was the only one with a sword strapped to his back. On closer inspection, a small green gemstone could be seen around his neck.

"Is everyone ready?" He asked one of them.

"Ready and itching to start the fun, Boss." Came the reply. More than two hundred pairs of sapphire blue eyes glinted in the light in response.

"Good. Than get going. You know what to do."

"Right!" With that, the shadow clone, along with five others, darted down the mountainside.

As soon as they were out of view, Naruto turned to the remainder of the 'army', "You know who to spare, the remainder...show NO mercy."

The clones let out a war cry as they charged down, scattering into the village.

Within minutes, explosions began to rock the village, followed by terrified screams and loud splattering noises...

"DEAR KAMI! IT STINKS!"

"GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!"

"IT'S STICKY!"

"I'M GOING TO BE SICK!"

"AUGH! IT'S IN MY HAIR!"

Naruto inhaled deeply, "I love the smell of mayhem in the morning." His payback had only just begun.

In his cage, Kyuubi was too busy laughing his ass off to make any comment.

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And so it begins.

If you can guess what the six clones he sent off are going to do, treat yourself to a cookie if you have any.

I'm gonna do my best to make the next chapter a bit longer. (my mojo is coming back to me)


	8. Chapter 9

Chapter 8:

Karma Pt.2:

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The streets of Konoha were in bliss that morning; people were still half celebrating the council for answering their prayers; in just a couple of days, the demon brat would be out of the village forever, never to darken their doorstep again.

Several were happily nursing hangovers from the previous night, while a few were still getting sloshed, not caring that it was morning...nor did they notice the shinobi darting over the rooftops

At least, that was the case until the first explosions.

The blasts were enough to quickly sober the partiers and sent a good deal of debris flying everywhere, as well as throwing several people to the ground. Screams of horror filled the air for a few seconds until reality...and the smell...set in.

The 'debris' was actually pieces of rotting garbage, scattered all over the street, even stuck to a few people. The fact that a majority of it was leftovers from a few restaurants in town didn't make it feel any better as a several people were decorated with it What some thought was blood covering them turned out to be, in some respects, far worse: cheap, foul-smelling paint, rancid used cooking oil, even old engine grease and glue, though a few spots disturbingly resembled raw sewage. The overall combination was enough to make a stench you could literally taste just from opening your mouth.

To add to it all, the paint, glue, oil and grease seemed to mix as as they splattered over everyone and everything, forming a sort of grimy, sticky sludge that was oozing into damn near every crevice it could get to.

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A pair of clones watched one of the resulting batches of pandemonium from one of the rooftops. One idly pulled out what looked to be a large, yellow marble from his pocket. It was roughly the size of the ring on a kunai handle and shined in the sunlight. At least, until he giggled evilly and hurled it down, straight into the open door of a shop.

BANG!

"Nice shot." The other commented, watched as the owner came out, screaming and covered in piss-yellow paint, "How long you think it'll take them to realize who's doing it?"

"I think the real quest is, how long will it be before we let up long enough for them to even start thinking about it." The first responded before lobbing another, this time earning a shriek as it struck a woman in the ass, covering her and nearby people in oil

"Point made." The first said, joining his fellow clone in bombarding the village.

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Elsewhere:

"You have got to be kidding me." One of the first six clones Naruto sent out said as they cleared the wall surrounding the Uchiha compound, "No guards, no security, nothing! You'd think those morons would be treating this place like a monument given how they always kissed the teme's ass."

Another snorted, "Probably think none would have the gall to steal from the 'mighty' Uchiha clan."

"Never knew us then." The third clone smirked before setting down the duffel bag he had brought along.

#1 motioned for them to settle down, "All right, you guys. Lets get busy. No telling how long the others'll be able to keep the whole village occupied. We have all the stuff?"

"Oh yeah." #3 unzipped the bag, "Enough storage scrolls to clean out the Aburame twice, bugs and all. Plus..." He pulled out an inch thick stack of paper, his grin matched by the other five.

"All right. Commence 'Operation: Ransack' !" At that, all six made their way into the compound. Their first target: the main house.

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**(Fifteen minutes beforehand)**

Tsunade turned her neck a bit to get the stiffness out of it after finally finishing the document she had been working on. Thankfully, Shizune had provided a second head to catch any possible loopholes the council might try to find. She let out a sigh of satisfaction as she read over it.

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki is hereby relieve of any and all obligations, past, present, and future, to the shinobi village of Konoha of Fire Country._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki is hereby cleared of all crimes, past and present, against Konoha of Fire Country._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki is hereby granted the rank of Chunin._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Hinata Hyuuga is hereby assigned to answer ONLY to the Hokage. Any attempt to circumvent this order, by clan members or officials, will be seen as an act of treason against the Hokage and will be punished severely._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Hinata Hyuuga is hereby cleared of all crimes, past and present, against Konoha of Fire Country._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Hinata Hyuuga is hereby granted the rank of Chunin._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Hinata Hyuuga is hereby relieved of any and all obligations, past, present, and future, to the Hyuuga clan unless authorized by the Hokage._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, the Namikaze Fortune and Estate, which includes all scrolls, moneys and property are hereby relegated to the sole possession of Naruto Uzumaki to dispose of as he sees fit._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, the scrolls, moneys and property or the Senjuu Fortune and Estate are hereby relegated to the sole possession of Tsunade Senjuu to dispose of as she sees fit._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, the Hokage Library and its contents ar hereby relegated to the sole possession of Tsunade Senjuu to dispose of as she sees fit._

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, all matters pertaining to the shinobi of Konoha shall from now on be the sole jurisdiction of the shinobi council. Any attempt by the civilian council to intrude in said matters shall be seen as an attempt to usurp authority and therefore an act of treason. _(She asked herself more than once why the hell a law like that wasn't already on the books.)

_By Order of the Fifth Hokage, Jiraiya is hereby appointed to serve as Interim Hokage in Tsunade Senjuu's absence. In the event of her retirement or demise, that status shall be upgraded to Sixth Hokage._

She grinned to herself as she made sure everything was dotted and crossed, "Heh, this should put a good-sized boot up those coots' asses." She chuckled.

"Can I be the one wearing the boot?" A voice chuckled, getting both women's attention.

"Naruto? What the hell are you doing out of the hospital!?" She said, looking ready to drag him back herself. That is until he rolled his eyes at her.

"Don't get your panties in a knot, Baa-chan." Came the reply, "Besides, I'm not even the real one. I just came here with a message." The clone grinned at the tic over her eye, "When you see him, tell the Lecher that his _godson_ has a bone to pick with him."

"Godson..?" Shizune looked at him. It didn't take much to guess who he was referring to, "Jiraiya never said anything about having a godson..."

"You're looking at him. The old man told the real Naruto everything the day after Mizuki-teme blabbed about the fox. He also told me who my biological father was." He took a moment to let that sink in before continuing, "Frankly, I have to say it's rather disappointing neither of you noticed." He gestured to the marks on his face, "Imagine the face without these. That and the fact he had hooked up with a gal named Kushina **Uzumaki.**"

Both women cocked their heads to the side momentarily as they pictured him not having the familiar marks. Shizune's eyes suddenly widened as she looked at the picture of the Fourth on the wall, then back back at the clone, "M-Minato-sama??"

Tsunade could only stare, the expression on her face showing she was somewhat gobsmacked before silently cursing not seeing it herself. That lasted until she remembered what the clone said. "Wait..Jiraiya..KNEW? All this time? And the damned pervert never manned up about it?!" The tic returned with a vengeance. "When I get my hands on him..."

The clone chuckled, "Just make sure he's still alive so the boss can have a shot at him too." He got ready to dispel himself before stopping, "Oh, one more thing. He hid all the files, plus my birth certificate, in a blood seal under the pillow his crystal ball sets on, though you'll need the boss to open it. That and hope you enjoy the fireworks we're about to set." He give the trademark foxy grin before jabbing himself in the side and disappearing.

"Fireworks?" Shizune's question was quickly answered by a rapid series of explosions with grossed-out screams echoing through the window.

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Meanwhile, the real Naruto was strolling through a back alley, admiring his clones' handiwork, "Poor, poor, Konoha..it'll take months for them to clean this place up." He added with a devilish smile, "Too bad this is only the beginning."

**"I LOVE IT!" **Was all Kyuubi could gasp out before once again succumbing to peals of laughter.

The blonde chuckled at his tenant's reactions. Truth be told, the fox was anything but a cold-blooded killer. The two had finally met officially a few days after the Wave mission. Granted, Naruto was pissed at him for attacking Konoha in the first place until Kyuubi explained had no choice since that was part of the deal when he had been summoned.

It turned out, all nine Tailed Beasts were part of a special summoning contract. Once summoned, the only way they can safely return back home is to perform the task they were summoned for. As far as he knew, the Saibi was the only Beast that tried to renege on the deal, and paid for it, reducing him to little more than an overgrown turtle. The man that summoned Kyuubi had kept his identity a secret so he wan't really sure who he was. At first he figured he wanted the fox to help with something routine like getting famous or a hot girlfriend.

The nine-tailed fox was a pervert and a joker at heart; he loved a good fight as well, but flat out cold-blooded slaughter went against everything he stood for. The real reason for the summoning made him want to squish the little rat underfoot, but even that would have broken the deal and he'd have to pay the price. Though neither of them had counted on him being sealed by the Fourth. Although that provided him with a loophole to cancel the contract without repercussion since an outside source now prevented him from fulfilling it.

At first the 'relationship' was tentative at best until Naruto learned Kyuubi had given him the bloodline when he killed Daisuke. People like that were the exception as far as the fox was concerned.

In the end, the two had developed a moderate respect for each other; though they still had their arguments.

Naruto quickly roused himself from his thoughts and resumed his walk before the sound of squealing laughter reached him. A few gasps 'Oh, Kami!' and 'Bullseye!' in between was enough to recognize who it was. As he listened, an idea struck him, "_Kyuubi, can you redo what you did to remove the teme's curse mark? But on a less destructive level?"_

The fox took a moment to regain his composure before responding, **"You mean a chakra overload and burnout? That's child's play. If you're talking about removing a mark without burning off as much flesh as the Uchiha, it'll be easy as long as the person hasn't tapped into it. Why do you...ooohh." **He chuckled, **"I get the picture."**

"Yeah, I have something of a business proposition for her. Even if she doesn't accept, I'm betting she'll be glad to at least be rid of that thing."

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Yes, I'm cutting Tsunade a little slack in regards to knowing who Naruto's parents are. To be honest, Jiraiya is more at fault in my eyes. I fail to see the logic in him not coming clean when they first met. To me, that kinda puts him down there with the people who went out of their way to make his life difficult. Now, I could be wrong, but in a way he only brought Naruto to use as a bargaining chip in getting her to come back.

As for the clones at the Uchiha estate, any suggestions on what they'll find? (aside from the usual plunder)

Coming soon: You were the one..weren't you?


	9. Chapter 10

**anothvortex: **uh, I think you misread the chapter. Sarutobi and Naruto were actually in cahoots.

Chapter 9:

To Kill a Snake's Seal

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"Oh Kami! I think I'm gonna piss myself!" Anko gasped once she caught her breath, only to lose it again as she watched the show from her usual seat at the dango shop.

If you were to ask the first person you saw in Konoha about Anko Mitarashi, the most likely answer you'd get would be 'crazy snake bitch'. Although the few people that she let close had a more positive opinion of her. However, thanks to the prototype curse mark her former sensei had put on her and its influence, the real Anko was under the mask of a slightly psychopathic sadist

Little did she know that today would bring about the end of her need for that...

During all the commotion, no one noticed a certain blond slip into the shop and make his way over to the cackling kunoichi, "I take it you're enjoying the show, Anko?"

She whipped her head around and smirked when she saw who was there, "Damn, gaki, I haven't laughed this hard since that time Hatake tried reading his porn out loud and Kurenai heard him." She said in between gigglefits. "I can't wait to see what you got in store next.

"Spoil the surprise if I said anything. Anyway, that's not why I came." He calmly leaned over and whispered, "You know the teme doesn't have his curse mark anymore, right? Well, how do you feel about being rid of your own?"

The laughter quickly vanished, "That's not funny, kid.." She muttered.

"Who said I was joking?" He held up his hand. It looked like it was on fire from the red chakra swirling around it, "The fox burned off his, but he'll show a little more finesse in removing yours."

Anko's eyes widened, "The fox? But how can you trust.."

"He was suckered into attacking, Anko. A contract was made when he was first summoned that he was forced to comply with so he could return home., and the guy that summoned him is really the one responsible. Hell, all Kyuubi's really interested in is dirty jokes and ogling pretty girls. Trust me, I've had enough experience to tell when someone's lying, and he wasn't."

The snake-mistress was, for the first time in her life, was at a real loss for words; the attack was planned by someone else? "Wait, haven't you told the Hokage? Or the Council?"

Naruto snorted in response, "As far as those old farts are concerned, it'd just be a ploy to trick them. I'd have better luck getting Rock Lee to stop being a Mini-Gai." He gave a half-hearted shrug, "Either way, I'm not a Leaf-nin anymore so it's not worth the hassle. I'll tell Tsunade before my time's up, but 'til then, I'm just gonna have some fun. "

She couldn't blame him for that, even after all this time, most of them still treated her like she was going to suddenly start up her former sensei's warped projects. She quickly decided it was best not to dwell on that and cleared her throat, "So,.what's this about removing it?"

"Just show me where it is and we'll take care of the rest. Though I should warn you. it'll hurt like hell."

Anko smirked, "Kid, I work in interrogation. If it's one thing I'm familar with, it's pain." She pulled back the shoulder of her coat to expose her mark and grit her teeth. Unfortunately, she hadn't expected it to feel like a hot iron being pressed against her flesh and had to fight aginst her body wanting to thrash from the sensation.

**"That hebi-pedo is a real sick bastard."**Kyuubi muttered in disgust at the feel of the curse mark, even though it was just a prototype, the thing still felt nasty as hell. **"Luckily she never succumbed to it so it's not anchored like Uchiha's was. This'll just take a sec.."** A faint sizzle could be heard as smoke rose up from under Naruto's hand.

Anko let out a pained whimper before he called out, "And we're done." And she dropped to her knees panting. The area where his hand was at still throbbed some, but oddly enough, the usual pain associated with her mark was completely gone. "It..it's gone?" She gasped.

Naruto held up a kunai so she could see the reflection before grabbing a can from the cooler used to store cold drinks and setting it on the burn area to ease some of the pain.

The kunochi's eyes widened when she looked all over her shoulder; the only thing left was a slightly raw-looking patch in the shape of the blonde's hand.

Her mark was completly gone.

"You may wanna ask Baa-chan to heal that uuuppp**!" He was abruptly silenced by three things: one, the joyful squeal Anko let out once it finally settled in that she was free.

Two, the following flying pounce she gave him quickly following said squeal.

Three, he couldn't really say much of anything since Anko's tongue quickly found its way into his mouth.

**"I'd say that counts as a 'thank you'"**Kyuubi commented, **"Wow, I didn't think human tongues could curl around that."**

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"Hello, what do we have here?" Clone #4 mused as he looked in one of the cubby holes lining the Uchiha clan dojo. He had already piled up all the weapons hanging on the walls near the entrance and had begun going over the place with a fine tooth comb. His current discovery turned out to be a pair of plated leather gloves, three slots were visible on the front edge of the plate on the back of both gloves. Curious, he slipped one on and noted the lack of care the leather had sustained, as well as the fact were were a tad snug. But the real surprised came when he tensed his hand and three knife blades sprung out from the plate. They were only a couple of inches long, but were still sharp enough to do some serious damage

"Cool." He grinned at the edge on the blades. It was then he saw something engraved on the place between the first and second index knuckles. Someone had tried to scratch it out but it was still readable; " 'To Hana. Happy Birthday, Honey! Aunt Rin."

"Hana? That's Kiba's sister's name..." He quickly sealed the gloves into a scroll and began looking through the remaining holes. There was no way in hell it was there by plain chance. Something told him that was the least of what they'd dig up.

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Tsunade could hardly believe her eyes when she released the seal under the crystal ball's pillow. It was all here; Sarutobi's journal, Naruto's birth certificate, even the marriage certificate of Minato and Kushina, signed by Sarutobi. Even their will was there. The blood seal on it had already been broken, indicated Naruto had seen it.

"Shizune." She looked up from the journal.

"Y-yes, Tsunade-s-sama?" Shizune felt her blood run cold at the tone her sensei was using.

"Bring me Jiraiya. I don't care who you get to help or what you do to him, but make sure he's still alive enough to talk. Got it?"

She knew she should be happy right now, but Shizune could help but let out an uncharacteristic and VERY sinister giggle, "Does he have to come in on his own power?"

"Not really."

The giggle got even darker.

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Would someone like to offer a prayer on behalf of the Pervy-Sage?

I know my last couple of updates have been somewhat short, but I'm using them to help jumpstart things again. I'm gonna try to start putting in updats on a more regular basis if Im' lucky.

Next time: Uchihas, you've been some naughty boys..and girls.


End file.
